Live updates: Claudia Sheinbaum is set to become Mexico’s first woman president
Mexico City’s central Zocalo plaza erupts in celebration of Sheinbaum’s projected victory
Mexico City’s central plaza, the Zocalo, erupted in applause and cheers early Monday morning as Mexico’s projected first woman President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke and pumped her fist before the crowd.
“We women have landed in the presidency,” she said amid a roar from supporters. “We are going to govern for everyone.”
Chants broke out when she referred to her political mentor Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. She promised to “preserve his legacy” and continue many of his popular policies, including payments to elderly Mexicans and students.
However, instead of the packed plaza that greeted the current president six years ago, early Monday morning there were only a few thousand supporters – a sign that she still lacked the massive support her mentor enjoys.
Sara Ríos, 76, a retired literature professor at Mexico’s most esteemed university, celebrated the victory among throngs of other supporters, but said Sheinbaum has a long road ahead with many challenges, especially with the country’s ongoing cartel violence.
“She will make an effort to pacify the country and will make progress, but it is a slow process,” she said. “The only way for all of us to progress is by working together.”
Mexico will have its first woman president, what will that mean?
With both of her competitors conceding, Claudia Sheinbaum’s name is likely to go down in history as the first woman president of Mexico. The one who broke through 200 years of male governments.
Mexico now joins a list of 11 Latin American nations that are or have been governed by women: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
The country, with 129.5 million inhabitants and the second largest economy in Latin America, is known for its “machismo” and violence against women. But Sunday Sheinbaum broke through that longstanding ceiling in an election where the ruling party won by a wide margin.
The projected winner, of the Morena party, will now have to govern a country where disappearances and murders of women are so high, they’re counted with numbers and no longer with names.
Gender equality in the workforce is often divided by class, with women like domestic workers facing harsh conditions. Despite opening access to abortion expanding significantly in recent years, feminist groups in Mexican states are still fighting for better access to sexual and reproductive rights.
Xóchitl Gálvez recognizes defeat in presidential race
By MARTÍN SILVA REY
In a speech Monday morning opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez recognized defeat in her campaign for Mexico’s presidency.
She said the results “aren’t in my favor” and said she called the race’s projected winner Claudia Sheinbaum to concede.
Gálvez, highly critical of Sheinbaum and her political mentor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said she would continue to “defend democracy” which she said the populist has put at asked.
Gálvez said she told Sheinbaum: “I see Mexico with a lot of pain and violence.”
What are the challenges ahead for Mexico’s projected next president Claudia Sheinbaum
- ONGOING VIOLENCE: López Obrador claims to have reduced historically high homicide levels by 20% since he took office in December 2018. But that’s largely a claim based on a questionable reading of statistics. The real homicide rate appears to have declined by only about 4 or 5% in six years by some measures.
- MORE COMPLEX CONFLICT: Under López Obrador cartels have expanded control in much of the country and raked in money — not just from drugs but from extorting legal industries and migrant smuggling. They’ve also fought with more sophisticated tools like bomb-dropping drones and improvised explosive devices.
- “AMLO’S” SHADOW: While Mexico’s next president will likely make history as being the country’s first woman leader, they will likely struggle to step out of the shadow of López Obrador’s larger-than-life image.
- THE ECONOMY: López Obrador brags about Mexico’s strong exchange rate against the U.S. dollar; but the strong peso hurts Mexican exporters, and high domestic interest rates – whcih underpin the currency – tend to choke off economic growth.
- PEMEX: Mexico’s state-owned oil company continues to totter under a mountain of debt, while López Obrador’s pet project _ a new oil refinery – has yet to function, and many of his other infrastructure projects are unfinished, over budget and unlikely to ever turn a profit.
- DEBT: López Obrador also leaves his successor with a staggering budget deficit equivalent to 5.9% of GDP, as well as ongoing costs to fund his building and benefit programs, which will limit their room for manuever.
- WATER AND ENERGY SHORTAGE: López Obrador’s favorite state-owned company, the Federal Electricity Commission, has proved both highly polluting and unreliable, especially in the face of drought and an extended heatwave. The whole country faces looming water and energy shortages.
- THE ENVIRONMENT: Mexico has suffered from long-running drought, wildfires and soaring temperatures causing monkeys to drop dead from trees. Construction of López Obrador’s Maya Train has also fueled environmental concerns.
GALLERY: Mexicans celebrate historic election in Mexico City’s Zocalo
By MATIAS DELACROIX, MARCO UGARTE
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